State road toll hits 50-year low

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Police have announced the lowest Christmas road toll in a decade
and the lowest annual toll in 50 years.

The state toll for 2004 dropped to 522 - and when coronial
hearings have been completed the toll may even be lower - making it
the lowest figure since 1947.

At the end of the Christmas period - Christmas Eve until
midnight on Friday - only 15 people had died on our roads, six
fewer than the previous year.

Traffic Services Commander John Hartley said that despite the
falling tally, 15 families too many suffered a Christmas
tragedy.

"It is a credit to most drivers [who] have behaved responsibly
and made our roads a safer place," Commander Hartley said.

But Staysafe Committee chairman Paul Gibson said the figure had
not once fallen below the Roads and Traffic Authority's target of
500 deaths. "For 50 years in a row there have been more than 500
deaths in NSW," said Mr Gibson, a state Labor MP.

"When you add them up it's just a tad under 48,000 deaths [in
that time]."